The Media War in Gaza

BBC is at it again.

Some 5,000 rowdy demonstrators chanting anti-Israeli (and in some cases blatantly anti-Semitic) slogans, brought traffic to a virtual standstill outside the BBC’s central London headquarters in Portland Place last week. They were protesting what they claim (to the surprise of many) to be the BBC’s pro-Israel bias.

The next day, the BBC flagship ‘Today’ radio news program (a program which is near compulsory listening for the British political elite, including the prime minister), ran an item on the demonstration, examining the absurd proposition that the BBC – which for decades has been at the forefront of providing a worldwide platform for Palestinian extremists (one correspondent, Barbara Plett, even admitted on air that she cried in sorrow when Yasser Arafat died) – was in fact “pro-Israel.”

“Are the protesters right? Have we been biased at the BBC in favor of Israel?” BBC anchor Mishal Husain asked her chosen guest Greg Philo, professor of Communications and Social Change at Glasgow University, and author of one of the most anti-Israeli books published in Britain in recent years.

Philo responded: “I’ve had many senior journalists at the BBC saying they simply can’t get the Palestinian viewpoint across… the Palestinian perspective is just not there.”

Leaving aside Husain’s own bias against Israel, which was well documented by watchdog organizations at the time of the last major Hamas-Israel flare-up in November 2012, the claim by Philo, and the choice to use him as the studio guest, is bizarre.

The many Arabs killed in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya have barely been mentioned.

Indeed sometimes Gaza so seems to dominate BBC foreign coverage that thousands of people killed last week in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya and various African conflicts – including many Palestinians killed in Syria – have barely been mentioned. (The BBC is the world’s largest broadcast network.)

“The BBC has had way more people in Gaza just this week than they had in Baghdad at the height of the Iraq war, more than they ever had in Basra and more than they have had in Afghanistan,” a friend of mine, a seasoned British war correspondent who has extensively covered the Afghan and Iraq wars, wrote to me this week. The British, American and other militaries have killed far more people in both Afghanistan and Iraq than Israel has ever killed in Gaza. And of course Afghans and Iraqis haven’t fired thousands of rockets indiscriminately into British and American cities.

Those BBC correspondents in Gaza (Jeremy Bowen, Lyse Doucet, Paul Adams, Yolande Knell, Quentin Sommerville, Rushdi Abualouf, Shahdi al Kashif, Kelvin Brown) and several others reporting on Gaza from elsewhere (including James Reynolds, Kevin Connolly, Chris Morris and Jonathan Marcus) have this week, as they have for years, presented Palestinian claims against Israel in the most graphic detail.

And many of those Palestinian claims are misleading at best. On Friday, for example, a BBC reporter in Gaza, replying to the question about how ordinary Palestinians were coping “with Israeli actions,” informed us that “no one has any electricity.”

What he didn’t say, and what the BBC anchor didn’t point out, is that the reason that 70,000 Gazans (not “all Gazans”) have been left without electricity is because Hamas – not Israel – fired a rocket that hit a Gaza power line. (By contrast, NATO did “bomb Serbia into darkness” in 1999, and the U.S. did so in Iraq both in the Gulf War and in 2003.)

Body Count

Indeed the BBC, along with most of the international media, have failed to tell us that quite a number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza were the result of misfired Palestinian rockets – last week alone at least 100 Hamas rockets accidentally hit targets within Gaza.

The numbers of dead reported are based primarily on Palestinian claims, and these need closer examination over time (as the Jenin “massacre” should have demonstrated to the media).

Indeed if 80% of Gazans killed in the last two weeks were random civilians, as the BBC and other Western media claim, it is odd that (according to for example, a careful analysis by al-Jazeera) the majority of fatalities are men of fighting age – this in a territory where more than half the population are aged under 15.

Hamas rockets are being stored at an UNRWA school in Gaza.

The BBC (and other media) barely mentioned that on Friday – under pressure from Israel and the U.S. – the UN agency UNRWA admitted that 20 Hamas rockets (of the kind used to kill Israeli civilians) have been stored at an UNRWA school in Gaza. This is, of course, not news to people who follow the region closely; Hamas has for years stored and fired its arsenals at Israel from or near hospitals, schools, ambulances and mosques, in multiple breaches of international law.

The BBC also failed to tell its audiences that UNRWA is a primarily Palestinian-staffed agency, which has often supplied dubious figures about the number of civilian deaths in Gaza. Or that chief UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness, who has a decades-long record of bias against Israel, previously worked for 23 years in senior editorial positions at the BBC and remains close friends with the BBC’s Chief Mideast correspondent Jeremy Bowen.

A report by BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Adams was one of several on the network in recent days to make use of a Nazi analogy. Israel, we were told, had made “a concentration camp of 1.8 million people”. Other BBC reports made the ridiculous claim that Palestinians were “starving for the past 8 years” (see photos of food of “Gazans preparing for Ramadan” last month)

To its credit, “BBC Trending” – one small part of the vast network of TV, radio and online channels that comprises the BBC – ran an item this month admitting that pictures of alleged victims of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza were inaccurate, some for example, actually showing scenes from Syria and Iraq. One photo circulated by Hamas last week purported to show a teenager in Gaza killed by an Israeli airstrike. It was, in fact, a still image from the Hollywood horror film “Final Destination 4”.

But what the “BBC Trending” item didn’t point out is that some of the most senior BBC correspondents in the Middle East, such as former Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison, have been responsible for sending out inaccurate photos on their BBC twitter feeds.

Beyond BBC

Of course it is not only the BBC who are allowing their prejudices to get in the way of balanced reporting. On Friday, for example, one of CNN’s Gaza correspondents, Diana Magnay, sent out a tweet calling Israelis “scum” (CNN has since apologized and reassigned Magnay to Russia.) But can you imagine the outcry if she had called Palestinians, or Muslims, “scum”?

Jon Stewart, on the Daily Show, called Hamas “Freedom Fighters.” That’s not very funny for the 5 million Israelis – 80% of the population – who have had to cower in bomb shelters this past week. And it’s not funny for the Gazans who live under Hamas’s highly oppressive rule and risk their lives if they dare to criticize the regime. Hamas refused to accept an Arab League and UN-backed ceasefire, which Israel did agree to accept last week. Also unfunny was the Washington Post’s Wednesday cartoon, which depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly punching a Palestinian baby.

Peter Beaumont, the correspondent for the influential British paper The Guardian has (as of July 17) run 20 articles on the current Gaza conflict, comprising 18,886 words but not one report of his has properly explained Hamas’ use of human shields – even though this is crucial to understanding the story and Hamas itself has repeatedly boasted of this policy as an effective way to deter Israel from attacking its rocket launchers. By contrast, the Arab media has been full of reports on the use of human shields (which is a war crime under international law).

The tabloid papers aren’t immune either. The second best-selling paper in the UK, The Daily Mirror, was caught last week recycling old photos and adding incorrect information to smear Israelis. Even Britain’s best selling newspaper the Sun (which in the past, when Rupert Murdoch was more involved, was often sympathetic to Israel) has been stirring up the anti-Israel frenzy with totally out-of-context sensationalist and skewered coverage against Israel. Is it any surprise that anti-Semitic attacks in Britain have doubled this month?

Indeed people in the West might not realize it, but many Arab media are far more honest about the ills of Hamas than most western media.

“Thank you Netanyahu and may God give us more [people] like you to destroy Hamas!” wrote Azza Sami in the leading Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram. On Egyptian TV, several commentators said they were “sick and tired” of Hamas. There have been similar sentiments in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and even in the Fatah-controlled West Bank. So the next time 5,000 rowdy demonstrators take to the street to protest Western media’s supposed “pro-Israel” bias, they might want to keep in mind the history, the facts and what Arab media are saying about Hamas.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 26

(24)
Barry Jacobs,
July 27, 2014 8:17 PM

Rebuttal

Anti-semitism, terrorism on English soil, and all else negative does NOT lead to a better world. As long as terrorism does Not hit home, rationalizations, as a cop out leads to a demoralized culture.

(23)
Robert,
July 27, 2014 2:15 AM

Israel is Right

Israel has every right, and obligation to defend itself. Did the BBC or CNN count the number of women, children and men who strapped bombs to themselves and killed citizens of Israel, both Jewish and Arabic?

Then close to the end of the article in small letters it says".. in response to rockets fired by Hamas militias to Israel.."

The words "defense" and" terrorists"are forbidden to use

The above model of information that gets transcripted to the mainstream newspapers is used by Reuters, AFP, AP and EFE

And this goes again..and ..again, in every conflict

(21)
Josh Pactor,
July 26, 2014 12:39 AM

Strange days

It's a strange day indeed when Egypt and Jordan are turning out to be better "friends" than Britain and France...

(20)
Tamar Kuperstein,
July 25, 2014 10:18 PM

Most journalists just take the easy road of following the crowed and sticking to the same theme, body count. The problem is it is devastating to see so many innocent civilians get killed, but they would not be able to stay in Gaza if they would point the finger to the real culprit Hamas.

(19)
Lisa,
July 25, 2014 9:07 PM

Its simple:: They don't want to see....

We can prove a point over & over & over again....bottom line-----they just don't want to see!!

(18)
Neria Moye,
July 25, 2014 5:06 PM

Thank you for writing this article

Thank you so much Mr. Gross for writing such an intelligent article about the mainstream media anti semitism and anti Zionism. Its about time someone articulated this injustice in plain facts. Unfortunately, here in Europe most people are rationalize the terrorist attacks and war against Israel with their heads, not their hearts. Thank you for giving me more clear, grounded facts to stand on. Shabbat Shalom

(17)
Neicee,
July 25, 2014 4:53 PM

Another great writer

I just finished reading two articles over at American Thinker by the name of Dan Gordon - a reserve IDF member. I sat and sobbed to the point I couldn't see the screen. I wish he would have published it here. You will never forget his words.

(16)
Albert Hache,
July 25, 2014 11:44 AM

Why is G-D on Israel's side?

G-D is always on the side of the virtuous, the just, the wise, the loving, the good, the righeous, the humane and never on the side of arrogant, pitiless haters, intolerant liars, That's why Israelis are happy and Palestinians miserable and for no other reason..As Socrates puts it, “Virtue does not come from wealth, but. . . wealth, and every other good thing which men have. . . comes from virtue.”When protecting their very existence, why should Jews pay attention to what BBC and other people have to say about them when G-D is obviously on their side ?

(15)
Diane,
July 25, 2014 12:51 AM

The BBC, CNN, NY Times...Anti-Israel-what is new?

It is time someone brought out the face that the BBC is one of the more UNRELIABLE sources for news on Gaza and Israel conflicts.I remember being on ulpan in Gavatayim during the Yom Kippur War hearing reports on the BBC that Egypt had overrun and taken over Tel Aviv. We looked around incredulously wondering who was feeding them this misinformation. It was before Internet and email. I and my friends were wondering what news our parents in the US were receiving. According to the BBC, they would be thinking we were dead, prisoners of war, etc. we started a phone tree to contact everyone's parents in the US so they would know the reports were false. And, here the BBC is doing it again. Who at the BBC is covering the thousand who have died in fighting in Syria?No one has mentioned that Israeli medical personnel are risking their lives to triage and help those from Gaza who have been wounded. And there has been no mention of the numbers of Syrians fleeing to Israel via the Golan Heights to receive medical care.And just think what the citizens of Gaza could have built using all that cement to make tunnels to kidnap and murder Israel citizens. One came up in front of a day care center where innocent children could have been in serious danger.It is interesting that the Arab media are showing the real Hamas. And western media only cares about body counts and sensationalism. It is abhorrent. But, exposing the BBC won't atop the problem of biased and unconfirmed reporting. It is sad. But, they have been showing their true colors for decades now.

(14)
Anonymous,
July 24, 2014 10:20 PM

I suspect all this is beside the point

The tortuousness and (no longer shocking) boldness of the Muslim disinformation machine seems to be at work here, as follows: BBC recently made news when it pointed out that some reports of casualties claiming to be Gazan were really Syrian/Iraqi etc.and were not recent. Thus possibly slightly undermining the current disinformation regarding the wholesale use of vulnerable Gazans as shields for combatants. So...to make sure there are no additional, perhaps more important, outbreaks of journalistic integrity, no matter how unlikely, by BBC, Jihad, Ltd. is immunizing the BBC against the honesty organism, and also scattering the seeds of skepticism, in case of future need. Think CAIR, think the Saudi endowments to Middle Eastern Studies departments at universities decades in advance of their currently empowered status. BBC is being schooled by their Islamist poster children, just making sure no one is entertaining any wild, reactionary ideas like fact checking, setting standards for professional reportage, stuff like that. Just Jihadists being CAIRful.

(13)
esther,
July 24, 2014 10:18 PM

media war VS Israel

In Mexico intelectuals and media joins this unnaceptable antisemitim...half trues.. people must talk loud and demand this media war against Israel to stop. Israel has the right to defend his people.

(12)
Mary,
July 24, 2014 9:24 PM

BBC

The BBC are pro-Israeli? When did that happen? As far as I kinow, and you have well documented, they are the most pro-Hamas group about.

(11)
Susan Jasper,
July 24, 2014 7:19 PM

Hamas must be destroyed

The USA and Great Britain would never allow fanatics purporting the destruction of the country to exist. Taking cement and building tunnels which carry weapons to use only for destruction of a sovereign nation is unacceptable. The people of Gaza need basic supplies, not rockets and tunnels. Hamas must be cut off at the head and chopped up into little pieces.

(10)
Sue,
July 24, 2014 5:04 PM

Name me a country in the world tolerating tunnels at it's border

Can anybody answer that question?
Tunnels are built to kill Israelis, to kidnap Israeli youth and soldiers and to smuggle arms.
Foreign money is used for those porpuses.
After all that who is as holly as to ask Israel to use restrain and to criticize ?

(9)
Dr. Donna,
July 24, 2014 4:42 PM

Don't accept media bias

It is important for those of us who support Israel to have a voice in the media. Write back with questions such as those pointed out in comments. Yes Palestinian "children" were reported killed. How many were in area of fighting, and how many were combatants? Why are so many more males reported as dead as opposed to females (females usually are not armed)? This is a start (it is important to use the words "reported" to suggest the questions we have about accuracy.

It's time to be Bold, and answer these questions with a question like a good Jew supposed to. Every time these pompas's ask, Refute them with "What about the horrendous atrocities you, the Brit's have caused: From the British American war,and the subjugation of many countries. The prophet Isaiah stated: the nation that does not serve you--I(G-D) will utterly destroy!

(6)
Kelly Rebekah ben Maimon,
July 24, 2014 2:49 PM

BBC at its worst

Excellent article, by some one who clearly seems to know what he is talking about. A refreshing change. According to some folk, the BBC has a reputation for bias. Fully support Israel's right to defend her people.
London, England

(5)
Beryl Ebert,
July 24, 2014 2:20 PM

WAR BETWEEN HAMASS AND ISRAEL

I am a British Subject and am so TIRED of the BBC being so pro Hamass. If Hamass stopped sending rockets, Israel would stop defending themselves!!! BBC reporting is SO one-sided I am ashamed of them.

Ian Marshall,
July 24, 2014 4:31 PM

Muslim always the victim

Hello.I`m just an atheist, white English, ballroom dancing, folksinging, but otherwise unremarkable windsurfing grandad, but I do agree with Beryl. Muslims historically have enjoyed being victims, however, and to start and prolong a conflict they cannot win may strike us as madness, but, hey, that`s Islam. They must be kicking themselves that they are not killing as many Jews as their Koran would like.Our Lord Pearson (Hansard: 22 July 2014 : Column 1067 ) tried to point out that it is Islam itself that is flawed, in a recent debate, but was immediately contradicted by Lord Nash who said he `regarded Islam as a religion of peace`! Doesn`t he know that 60% of their holiest scripture commands Muslims to kill him?By the way, I`ve written to him about that. Don`t hold your breath for an answer, my friends.Ian X

Anonymous,
July 24, 2014 6:11 PM

I agree

the BBC should stick to period dramas - it's what they are good at!

(4)
Anonymous,
July 24, 2014 2:16 PM

Gaza Work at Home ad

Work at HomeLaunch rockets for HamasContact UNWRA or Hamas

(3)
Dan,
July 24, 2014 2:13 PM

In other countries...

I follow the Italian press. When reporting casualties in Gaza, they invariably mention the number of children killed and often use the term "bimbi", which is best translated as "kids". Of course, this stirs up great indignation, as Israel is portrayed as a killer of little kids.

(2)
Anonymous,
July 24, 2014 2:15 AM

Correct Misinformation

One way to counter media bias is to comment on the articles on-line. Very important in fact. We should all be doing this on a daily basis.

(1)
Yehudith Shraga,
July 23, 2014 2:07 PM

David Ward said he would fire rockets at Israeli civilians if he lived in Gaza.

This is not the first time Ward has stirred controversy by making extreme anti-Israel comments.In July of last year he posted a tweet claiming "the Zionists are losing", branding Israel an "apartheid" state and gleefully predicting the Jewish state's demise.The previous January he drew widespread condemnations after accusing "the Jews" of "inflicting atrocities on Palestinians" and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany - on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day.Liberal Democrat spokesman has stated that Ward's comments do not represent the party.Gavin Stollar, who heads Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel, called on the party to suspect Ward's membership in response to the inflammatory comments.The chairman of the Conservative party which leads the coalition government called on Ward to withdraw his comments.BUTspeaking to BBC Radio 5 the MP, who represents the Bradford East constituency, refused to voice any regret for his comments.It seems Ward has difficulty to comprehend, that Hamas desperately needs a way out of its increasing isolation.It has lost Syrian and (much of) Iranian support in 2011 when it sided with the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad. In 2013, its ally, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted from government.The Egyptian military leadership declared war on Hamas and closed the tunnels under the Egyptian-Gazan border that had enabled Gaza's survival (and Hamas' ability to arm itself) during Israel's blockade.

I wonder, why doesn't David Ward want to fire some of the rockets to Syria, Iran and Egypt as well? and why don't the BBC interviewrs ask him this so obvious question?

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!